Tenth Win for Highlands Girls Hoops

Bluebirds Pull Away from Bearcats

PHOTO: Allen Ramsey, DWCPhoto.com. Highlands junior Ashley Hayes (2) makes a move in a recent game.

The Highlands Bluebirds girls basketball team took advantage of the opportunity for another big win Thursday.

Highlands used the combination of nice offense and tenacious defense to pull away from the visiting Walton-Verona Bearcats, 55-44 in a non-region game. The Bluebirds have won six straight against the Bearcats. The last Walton-Verona win in the series came 56-49 in Walton on Feb. 4, 2012. Both teams are 10-5 overall.

"We told them to make the simple pass," said Jaime Walz-Richey, Highlands Head Coach. "We were trying to force a lot of things. Defensively, we started putting pressure on them trying to take away things we wanted to take away. We did a better job limiting them to one shot, got the rebound and were able to go (quick in transition) a little bit."

Highlands trailed 17-11 after the first quarter. But the Bluebirds tied the game 23-23 at halftime and led 37-33 entering the fourth quarter.

The free throws made the difference in this one. The Bluebirds made 18-of-22 for 82 percent on 17 Walton-Verona fouls and the Bearcats hit 7-of-12 for 58 percent on 13 Highlands fouls.

Highlands junior Zoie Barth continued to do her thing with 28 points on 9-of-14 shooting and 8-of-9 free throws. She also had seven rebounds, three assists and seven steals.

Freshman post Rory O'Hara gave the Bluebirds another nice game in the post with 11 points. Junior Ashley Hayes made three three-point shots on her way to nine points.

"It's all of us working together," O'Hara said. "If I do get doubled, then there's always someone open. That helps too. Then if I'm not doubled and I make it, that helps the team. It's about being disciplined, focused and making sure you have a good shot selection."

But the Bluebirds also had others contribute in other ways. Senior Brooke Dill had seven rebounds and junior Hanna Buecker had five rebounds and two blocked shots with junior Chloe Jansen recording four steals.

Defensively when Walton-Verona made a move, Highlands trapped hard forcing the Bearcats to hesitate. That's when a lot of turnovers happened. The Bluebirds had 15 steals off 19 Walton-Verona turnovers and the Bearcts had 12 steals off 15 Highlands turnovers.

"We always have room to improve," Dill said. "We definitely have a lot of potential. We have a lot of confidence in our team. It's just about coming together, finding everyone's role for the team and playing to the best of our ability. That's when we pull off big wins."

Highlands made 16-of-44 shots for 36 percent including 5-of-16 three-pointers for 31 percent. Walton-Verona hit 17-of-39 shots for 44 percent including 3-of-12 three-point tries for 25 percent. Highlands also won the rebound battle, 28-24.

"That's why we take 10 minutes after games and go over things making sure we're all on the same page," Richey said. "We can't give teams a 10-point cushion in the first quarter. We have to come out ready to play right off the bat. Once we settled down in the second quarter, we were able to tie it and take the lead in the third quarter and kept it. The girls know we're very good collectively when we play as a team. Each of us has to bring it each game."

Junior Brooke Perry led the Bearcats with 14 points. Sophomore Emma Strunk finished with nine points and seven rebounds.

Highlands travels to Newport Central Catholic (5-7) on Saturday for a crucial 36th District game. It starts at 7:30 p.m.